Tools for Thought

What is the opposite of a messy environment? The answer isn’t as simple as is seems, especially since there isn’t one answer. I have three in mind, which could be thought of as levels of personal organizing, in ascending order of importance: neat, organized and uncluttered. Let’s look at some subtle but crucial distinctions between [...]

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A week and a half ago, I unsubscribed from all of my feeds in Google Reader. Looking around at my other sources of information, I resolved to process my email only once a day, refused to pick up any newspapers, and resisted the temptation to read any nonfiction for a week. I feel like I’ve [...]

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Julie Morgenstern’s SHED decluttering method has been amazing. Three months ago I pared by book collection from 673 books to 148 in one day. Yesterday, I glanced at my bookshelves and felt a twinge of discomfort. I recognized that many of the books I previously decided were essential to keep were, in fact, clutter. So [...]

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I’ve written several times in passing about inherent flaws in what’s usually called “time management,” particularly about the central assumption that controlling time is synonymous with increasing productivity. The time-and-motion model of productivity is an Industrial Age artifact that springs from the need for lockstep coordination of tasks on the assembly line. When cranking widgets [...]

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